


I’m Glad

by YellowLipstick



Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - World War I, Brother/Brother Incest, Durincest, M/M, Medical Trauma, Multi, Nurse!Frerin, Other, Polyamory, Rare Pairings, Serious Injuries, Sibling Incest, Soldier!Fili, Soldier!Kili
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-23
Updated: 2019-12-23
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:14:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21913471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YellowLipstick/pseuds/YellowLipstick
Summary: Fili and Kili are injured soldiers brought under Frerin’s medical care during WWI.
Relationships: Frerin/Kíli (Tolkien), Fíli/Frerin (Tolkien), Fíli/Frerin/Kíli (Tolkien), Fíli/Kíli (Tolkien)
Kudos: 4





	I’m Glad

Frerin sighed before pulling back his long, blond hair into a tangled bun and eyeing the neat line of still-sterile medical supplies on the nearby crate. They were stocked; the cots were ready, and now-to wait. He knew it wouldn’t be long until the wounded started pouring in, and already there were recovering men lying bandaged in the corners of the medical tent. With a severe lack of surgeons and doctors, even the female nurses were overwrought and dwindling-so that left medical students like Frerin, to fill in the gaps, male or not, in a time when careers seemed to carry a gender stigma. He didn’t mind the dirty looks, he was doing everything he could to help his country, and would carry on the role of ‘nurse’ with pride; and once he was shouting orders and staunching rivers of blood with his hands and some measly bandages, well, nobody had time to give him attitude then.

The blonde turned when he heard the trucks puling up, the screams of dying men piercing the stillness of the makeshift infirmary. No time to sigh any longer, he pushed his sleeves up and hurried out of the tent, into the bright sunlight just as the drivers started unloading the injured on dirty, soaked gurneys. He barely had time to think, needing to assess everyone quickly and efficiently, while giving succinct directions at the small group of nurses bustling to help him.

Suddenly, the general din was thrown into further chaos when shouting rose above the noise as a blond soldier charged into the tent, the carnage of his injury making a mess, as he yelled, “Where’s my brother? Kili! Kili? Where’s Kili?”

Some nurses moved to restrain him, trying to at least get him to staunch his wild movements, which were only increasing his loss of blood by the moment. He appeared to have a compound fracture in his arm and had been shot in the shoulder, but didn’t care as he flailed and shouted, “I belong with my brother!” at the top of his lungs, even as he paled further and swayed on his feet, eyes frantically searching for his brother among the other soldiers in the tent.

Frerin strode over to the panicked soldier quickly and grabbed his good arm before steering him firmly into a seated position on the nearest cot and barking at the other nurses to begin cleaning his wounds immediately. The solider struggled and grunted in pain, before a single tear slipped down his cheek, leaving a glistening trail in the grime, “Kili,” he whispered with a cracked voice.

"Hey, I’ll find him, but you need to sit here and stop making a mess of my medical tent," Frerin said kindly, if not a bit sternly, while the blond looked up at him with a dazed expression, as if suddenly noticing the nurse for the first time, really.

Frerin paused for a moment under the scrutiny, eyes roaming over the blond soldier as well; they both had long, blond hair, tied back, and blue eyes. Though while Frerin kept his facial hair shorter, the solider had a fuller beard covering his chin and jaw, which fed into a long mustache, which was braided at the ends very shortly. The nurse had never seen anything quite like it, certainly not when soldiers regularly had to remain clean-shaven, and he was drawn to the unique blond in that moment, before he shook himself and came back to the reality of the situation as the din around him filtered in once more.

"What does your brother look like?" Frerin asked calmly, gripping the soldier’s good arm as he swayed on the cot in pain.

"Brown hair, clean face, dark eyes, smirks like a little shit, you’ll know him when you find him," the soldier muttered, the corner of his mouth tilting up just a bit at the end, in fond reminiscence of his brother.

"His name is Kili? And you?" Frerin questioned.

"He’s Kili. I’m Fili, at your service," the blond quipped, before wincing in discomfort as a nurse daubed his cut-up face with iodine-stained gauze.

Frerin turned from the blond soldier with the order to set his arm and clean the gunshot wound, grimacing as he heard Fili’s hoarse screams with their ministrations; he shouldn’t have taken the moment to glance, to attach, to feel-it would only hurt that much more when he lost this handsome, caring, blond soldier, just like when his own brother died. That Fili would fight to get to his brother, risk his own life in a struggle just to know Kili’s fate-it was all too much for Frerin’s senses. He took a deep breath, feeling his heart twang in his chest at the memory of Thorin and the continued cries of Fili, who had somehow grabbed all of his attention in the mere minutes he had interacted with him, and went in search of Kili.

***

Frerin knew when he had found Fili’s brother. The dark-haired soldier was tall and thin, and currently fending off helpful nurses while calling for his brother. It was a wonder the two hadn’t found each other yet, with all the combined racket they were making. It looked like Kili was worse off than his brother. The brunette was sporting two black eyes, a bloody nose, several bullet wounds to his torso, and what appeared to be a broken leg. If he didn’t calm down and let the nurses staunch his bleeding, he wouldn’t be meeting his brother again after all, he’d be shipped back to his family in a pine box.

Frerin strode quickly over to the weakly flailing brunette and gently but firmly grabbed his shoulders, forcing the younger man to look at him, “Kili. Your brother is here and he’s going to be fine, but you won’t unless you knock this shit out and lay down so we can help you.”

The brunette scowled spectacularly at Frerin and wheezed, “Who’re you, Blondie?”

Frerin glared in return, not even close to backing down, not when Kili needed him, “I’m the nurse who’s gonna save your life, if you let me, that way you can see that stubborn brother of yours again.”

Kili paled and croaked, “Fili’s really gonna be okay?”

Frerin nodded assuredly and helped the soldier to lie back on the cot, frowning worriedly as he groaned in pain with every slight, jostling movement, “Let’s get you okay now,” Frerin mumbled, taking a small, inappropriate moment to brush his hand softly over the brunette’s hair, as Kili shut his eyes once his head hit the canvas.

"Thanks, Blondie, you're something special," Kili tried to rasp, though it ended with a low whimper of pain.

He took a small moment to look over the beautiful solider lying in front of him, Kili really was handsome, gorgeous even. He had longer hair that was tied back like his brother’s, and while Fili had long facial hair, Kili was cleanly shaven except for the shadow of stubble showing on his stark jawline. Everything about him was angular, and despite the heavy bruising and blood staining his features, Frerin could see that the way the shadows and filtered sunlight through the canvas tent played on the soldier’s face, was utterly beautiful in an ethereal way he was not quite sure he had witnessed before, certainly not in a medic tent in the middle of a war.

The blonde nurse took the medical scissors and quickly snipped through the soldier’s jacket, peeling it off his bloody flesh stickily. Frerin turned to the nurses and grabbed at the iodine-soaked wads of gauze, first to see to his copiously bleeding bullet wounds, then to set and splint his broken leg, and lastly to clean up his gorgeous face. Though his eyes were blackened and his nose was bloodied, he had seemed cognizant enough, and Frerin couldn’t see a bump or gash on his head, so he wasn’t too concerned over the possibility of a concussion, he was more concerned over the blood loss and risk of shock.

A long while later, Kili was bandaged and splinted, patched up as well as he could be, and Frerin was certain the handsome soldier would be making a full recovery. He left to check on Kili’s blonde counterpart and was pleased to find Fili also resting, and bandaged up cleanly. He gave the order to move their cots next to each other, rationalizing his sudden care as a desire to not fight with the stubborn soldiers upon their waking and clear goal to search for each other. Though nothing could rationalize the small breaks he took, spending far too much time sitting in between their cots, waiting for them to wake. He didn’t know what about them had grabbed at his attention, his feelings, but they had firm grips on his heart now, and Frerin was helpless but to wait for them to wake so he could see them smile, hear their voices, and most importantly-see them well again. 

***

Fili woke first, to a darkened tent, silent except for the quiet breathing of the sleeping, wounded soldiers. He looked to his side and noticed the handsome, blonde nurse from earlier slumbering in a chair, but his attention pricked when he glimpsed the brunette in the bed beyond the nurse. It was Kili! His younger brother looked like hell from what he could make out in the dark and was still passed out, but Fili could see the steady rise and fall of his chest; he was going to be okay!

The blonde soldier tried to sit and was hit with a wave of dizziness before groaning and leaning back onto the hard cot’s rolled, woolen blanket, acting as a pillow. Frerin stirred and jumped as his consciousness came back to him, scrubbing at his face tiredly with the heels of his hands before moving to check on Fili despite the soldiers weakly waved away protests.

Finally, Fili was settled back against the cot, tucked in with an extra blanket despite his stubborn, spectacular, frowning pout, and Kili had also been checked on, though the brunette remained asleep. Frerin scooted his chair closer to Fili’s cot and admired the handsome blonde in the slight moonlight as it filtered in through the dirty canvas of the tent walls. He really was a sight to behold, and his gruff attitude was easy to see though, he was so worried for his little brother, who he continually glanced at with a small pucker of worry between his brows about every couple minutes or so.

Frerin had crossed the point of professionalism by sleeping in between the brothers, paying them much more attention than he should, so couldn’t really find it in himself to care as he reached his iodine-stained fingertips out and brushed them against Fili’s rough jaw slightly.

“Kili’s gonna be okay,” Frerin murmured, still caressing Fili’s jaw and neck as long as the soldier would put up with it, but so far he had only moved closer to the nurse’s gentle touches, not away.

Fili opened his mouth to speak but shut it and swallowed loudly, not trusting his voice at the moment as he felt tears prick his eyes; he could fight the whole bloody world, burn everything down and not shed a tear, but to see Kili lying in the bed all bruised up-it gutted him through. He looked up at the kind nurse, feeling his heart constrict in his chest at the sight of his beautiful face, prettier than any dame he had chased after before he had finally fallen into bed with Kili, the only person he had ever loved really. This nurse though, there was something about him, certainly something special, or he would have already threatened great harm for the small caresses Fili was allowing Frerin to lay upon him-only Kili touched him like that now.

Frerin seemed to come back to himself, pulling his hand into his lap and clenching his fist with nerves as he looked to the floor, feeling so unsure despite the confidant demeanor he lived with every day, running their small medical camp with efficiency and order.

“’S okay, I liked it,” Fili rasped, boldly reaching out and grabbing the nurse’s hand once again, lacing their fingers in the darkness while his heart ratcheted in his chest at his own brazenness.

“I’m Frerin,” the nurse whispered back, tightening his fingers in between Fili’s, and sighing as his back bent to lean closer to the soldier.

“Thank you,” Fili murmured, “For saving me and my brother.”

“It’s my job,” Frerin replied automatically before swallowing the catch in his voice and adding lowly, “But you both were different, and it was worth it, just to make sure you and Kili could wake up again, so I sat here and waited…I’m sure the other nurses don’t know what to think,” he trailed off in a slightly embarrassed mumble.

“I don’t know what to think either, but I like it, and I like you,” Fili stated plainly, shocking himself while idly wondering if his bold honesty wasn’t due to shock from his injuries. 

Frerin smiled slightly but tried to hide it, settling instead for squeezing Fili’s hand tighter while leaning down to brush a soft kiss against his stubbled cheek.

“I’m glad,” he whispered simply in the soldier’s ear, before leaning up while they both glanced at Kili who was groaning lowly in his cot as his eyelashes fluttered-he was finally waking up as well.


End file.
